Latvia will boycott Venice Biennale if Russia participates, EU may cut funding

Latvian Culture Minister Agnese Lāce has said she would boycott the opening of this year's Venice Biennale, an international art exhibition, if Russia takes part in the event.

Source: Politico

Details: Earlier, Latvia's Culture Ministry initiated a joint statement calling for Russia's exclusion from the Venice Biennale. The statement was signed by 25 countries.

At the time, the ministry said allowing Russia to participate would grant it "legitimacy through a major European cultural platform supported by European funding".

According to Politico, Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said after a meeting with foreign ministers in Luxembourg that the European Union intends to reduce funding for the Biennale over Russia's participation.

"While Russia bombs museums, destroys churches and seeks to erase Ukrainian culture, it should not be allowed to exhibit its own. Russia's return to the Venice Biennale is morally wrong, and the EU intends to cut its funding," Kallas said.

Earlier, the European Commission gave the president of the Venice Biennale 30 days to resolve the issue of opening the Russian pavilion. Otherwise, the organisation could lose €2 million.

Executive Vice President of the European Commission Henna Virkkunen and EU Commissioner for Culture Glenn Micallef condemned the Biennale leadership's decision in a joint statement as early as 10 March.

After Russia was announced as a participant, Ukraine called on the organisers of the Venice Biennale to reconsider their decision on Russia's participation and to maintain the principled position of condemning the occupying country.

The European Commission later warned it could suspend EU grant funding for the Venice Biennale if Russia is allowed to reopen its pavilion this year.

Italy's Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli called on Tamara Gregoretti – the government's representative on the Venice Biennale board – to resign over Russia's participation in this year's exhibition. He said Gregoretti had not warned the ministry that Russia might be taking part.

The Biennale organisers later said that no rules had been broken by allowing the Russian pavilion to reopen and insisted that the exhibition must remain a place of dialogue, openness and artistic freedom.

Russia's participation in the 61st Venice Biennale

Russia will reopen its pavilion and take part in the Venice Biennale this year for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

More than 50 young musicians, poets and philosophers from Russia and other countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Mali and Mexico, will be involved in the pavilion.

One of the themes of the exhibition, titled "The Tree is Rooted in the Sky", is the idea that "politics exist within temporary dimensions, whereas cultures communicate in eternity".

The commissioner of the Russian project will be Anastasia Karneyeva, the daughter of Nikolai Volobuyev, a retired general and deputy director of the major defence corporation Rostec.

"This is further proof that Russian culture is not isolated and that attempts to 'cancel' it – undertaken for the past four years by Western political elites – have not succeeded," said Mikhail Shvydkoi, Russia's Special Representative for International Cultural Cooperation and a former culture minister.

The organisers said the event will feature five contemporary figures who "are very unpopular with their governments – the US, Israel, China, Russia and even the EU". There are also plans for a programme on Pavel Florensky, an Orthodox priest and philosopher who was executed during the Great Terror.

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has promoted Florensky as one of the thinkers who laid the foundations for the concept of the "Russian world" ("Russkyi mir") – the general idea of the superiority of Russian Orthodoxy, culture, language, etc.

Public reaction

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on Italy not to issue visas to Russian participants of the Venice Biennale 2026, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said during a meeting with journalists.

In addition to Latvia, Finland also reacted to Russia's participation. Finland's political leadership will not attend the Venice Biennale if the Russian pavilion opens. However, some civil servants will visit the exhibition to support Finnish art and culture.

Participants of the Venice Biennale appealed to the exhibition's president and leadership to exclude Russia, Israel and the United States from the event and protect the dignity of others. The statement was signed by 73 artists.

Ukraine also called on organisers to reconsider the decision to allow Russia to return to the international art forum. PinchukArtCentre likewise appealed to organisers of the 61st Venice Biennale to deny Russia participation in the international contemporary art exhibition.

The Russian feminist anti-Putin group Pussy Riot will perform at the Venice Biennale in protest against Russia's return to the world's largest art exhibition.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!